By the Water

By the Water
Psalm 1:3 — He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.  (Psalm 1:3, ESV)

I have to be honest, I'm a totally different person in the water. On our honeymoon, my wife was totally surprised at how much fun I have in the pool (probably because she knows how much I hate being wet).
 
But let's not over-literalize the word 'water' here. The psalmist means the Word of God when he speaks of the water. And it's also true that I'm a totally different person in that water too! The Word of God saturates the soil of our lives and seeps into every crevice of our heart.
 
Like a tree planted by the water, we should soak up the living water of the Word because each one of us will experience different seasons, and there will be seasons that feel like desserts with no rain and seasons of torrential downpours. Seasons of spiritual drought and spiritual abundance.

We are called to live every season in the Word. It is our life-source! It defines what real prosperity looks like and promises prosperity when we remain like a tree planted by the water.

That doesn't mean that we will experience worldly success or material prosperity. We must remind ourselves that it is a great blessing to suffer for the truth of the Gospel and even to be martyred for the cross of Christ. No, biblical prosperity looks quite different then we normally imagine, and this is why we need the Word, so that we may pull from the water in every season and rejoice is the droughts and the storms as well as in the good times.
 
We are truly blessed when we are living in accordance with how God created us and called us to live, and we can only learn to do so through remaining in the Word like trees planted by the water.

United in Christ,
Rev. Joshua Fried